As an ACS member you automatically get access to this site. All we need is few more details to create your reading experience.

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ERROR 2

Yes! I want to get the latest chemistry news from C&EN in my inbox every week.

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

Supplies of the drug are severely limited; as of January, Gilead was not regularly making it. The US gave emergency approval for remdesivir to treat COVID-19 at the end of April. The firm has since been ramping up output, with the goal of supplying 1 million treatment courses by the end of 2020. Gilead describes remdesivir production as “a long, linear chemical synthesis process that must be completed sequentially and includes several specialized chemistry steps and novel substances with limited global availability.”

The arrangement—with Cipla, Ferozsons Laboratories, Hetero, Jubilant Life Sciences, and Mylan—should increase global supply of remdesivir, Gilead says. In addition to rights to the drug, Gilead will share its manufacturing process.

The technology access will remain royalty-free until the World Health Organization says COVID-19 is no longer a global public health emergency or until another drug or vaccine is approved.

Separately, a group of science and tech companies, primarily in Japan, has promised not to enforce patents “against any activities whose purpose is stopping the spread of COVID-19, including diagnosis, prevention, containment and treatment.” More than 30 companies had made the Open COVID-19 Declaration as of May 13, including Ajinomoto, Canon, Fujitsu, Horiba, Konica Minolta, LSI Medience, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nikon, Rohm, Shimadzu, Suntory, Tanaka, and Teijin.